Schepman Not Shying From Best Of Rest Clermont Junior Maintains Aspirations Of Qualifying For State Championships

Sports All-Lake County cross-country teams

December 3, 1989|By Herky Cush of The Sentinel Staff

CLERMONT — Heather Schepman would love to have some strong competition during the regular season in next year's high school cross-country campaign. That's the only way Schepman figures she can improve.

Schepman, a junior, who for the second consecutive year has the title of The Lake Sentinel's girls cross-country runner of the year, knows that honor has come against less than powerful competition.

But that's not her fault.

In fact, not having strong competition may have prevented Schepman from obtaining one of her high school goals for this season: reaching the state championships.

''I really would like to have some strong competition my senior year,'' Schepman said. ''It would be better for me, and I think it would be really good for our team.

''We are able to totally dominate everyone in Lake County and that hurts us when we run against teams from outside the county.''

Joining Schepman on the all-county first team are her Clermont teammates Jennifer Parker, Wendy Bridges, Teresa Estrada and Traci Westberg; Eustis' Heather Johnson and Melyndi Aperdale and Leesburg's Christine Idell.

Despite not facing much of a challenge when she competed against Lake County teams, Schepman's season-best time of 13 minutes, 7 seconds is more than 2 minutes better than anyone elses. And, she continued to work as if there was outstanding competition.

She credits Clermont Coach Gary Russo and assistant Bruce Cole for her continued improvement.

''Coach Cole kept pointing out my faults,'' Schepman said. ''He wasn't putting me down or anything, but it did cause me to want to show him I could do better. That helped with my incentive.

''Coach Russo gave me great positive incentive by telling me that I could win if I just wanted to. He told me to remember how I felt when I was named runner of the year last year. It was a good feeling, and it's one I wanted to enjoy again this year. I want to make it three in a row next year.''

Russo points to the work ethic of Schepman as the key to her performance.

''Heather works very hard,'' Russo said. ''She gets the most out of what she has. To look at her you wouldn't think she's a great athlete. But she is and she got better as the season wore on.

''That willingness to work is what separates her from many other runners. She's always going to running camps to help her. There's no telling what she can accomplish as a senior.''

Schepman said she puts so much work into her running because it is her favorite sport. She's playing basketball right now, and that's just to keep her busy until the second half of the running season - track - begins.

Schepman's best time came in the Trinity Prep Invitational late in the season. She points to her consistency as being the measuring stick for her success. But just how well she did on a week-to-week basis was difficult because of the different terrain.

''It's really hard to tell how good or how bad I'm running because of the many different courses we run,'' Schepman said. ''We run a lot of hilly courses during the season.

''That helps prepare us for other courses, but it would be better if we could get stronger competition.''

Schepman's future aims are to reach that state meet and earn a third consecutive runner of the year honor. She might trade the latter for the former because it would bring the opportunity to face that tougher competition.

''I want to go to state in the worst way,'' Schepman said. ''It's something every cross-country runner aims for.''